


East of Eden

by HQ_Wingster



Series: Legends of The Blue Sea [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Belonging, Blood and Injury, Character Study, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Deal with a Devil, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Fish out of Water, Major Character Injury, Memories, Multi, Near Death Experiences, Ocean, Other, Repressed Memories, Sirens, Survival, The Oncoming Storm, Threats of Violence, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-12 01:01:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12947913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HQ_Wingster/pseuds/HQ_Wingster
Summary: “The only monsters that exist are the ones left in our closet.”If being a monster was Viktor’s past, then being human with Yuuri was his future. To have, to hold, and to cherish the man that embraced Viktor for who he was, despite the differences, meant more to the mer than almost anything else in his a hundred and twenty years.





	1. This Is My First…

**Author's Note:**

  * For [porkcutletbowltrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/porkcutletbowltrash/gifts).



> I want to thank my beta-reader, [imaginary_dragonling](http://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_dragonling), for the time and effort they spent on this story and on me. Editing this chapter was a challenge of emotional proportions, and a therapy-esque session occurred some time in the night as we both grew as writers and supporters for each other.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **+** _A mer is soulless entity that wanders through the Seven Seas. A siren is a bodiless entity that reaps from the dead.  
>  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, this chapter was going to be much longer, but I had to omit several scenes in the beginning or it would mess up my pacing and tone. I wanted to incorporate the Katsuki family in here, but the focus of this fic is on Chihoko and Viktor. I will leave at that. If you are new to the mer!series, I recommend reading [Mer!Ficlet ](https://archiveofourown.org/series/883413)first before continuing with this story so you can understand the lore and past history between Chihoko and Viktor. However, if you are short on time and don’t want to read the 30-ish little ficlets I have in the collection, read chapter 20 ([Hunter and The Hunted](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12738711/chapters/29280378)) and all the way to chapter 29 (Hero) for some siren + mer lore.

Unlike a typical  _ Winter Wonderland,  _ Hasetsu was dressed with gray and red furs when December rolled in from the west. Despite the frost, the trees wore their red and orange coats, but their berries crystallized over Yuutopia Hot Springs. That night, it was Mari’s turn to to lock the inn, and her breath rose up as smoke in the evening. It swirled around her when she flipped the welcome sign, and Mari wiggled her toes around in her socks. Just as she was about to close the door, Mari noticed a velvet red feather from the corner of her eye.

A magnificent feather, it was! How it circled in the breeze before falling onto the porch steps. Perhaps, one of the last relics to Nature’s dear autumn, but Mari glared at it before retreating behind the front door. It wasn’t Nature’s choice to leave behind red, but another’s. A more sinister “other” that came too close for comfort. She hoped that Yuuri was going to be safe for the evening, but even better than hope was a simple call for reassurance.

For on an evening like this, reassurance linger in the hearts and minds of all of Hasetsu’s residents: a feeling that Viktor was all too familiar with when he tucked Makkachin in for the night. The puffer fish fell asleep in the seagrass, and Viktor tucked Makkachin in. Cradling her in his hands numbed the constant ticking in Viktor’s heart, and he kissed Makkachin one last time. Makkachin’s softness lingered over Viktor’s fingers as he circled around the legs of Hasetsu’s main pier..

_ “The only monsters that exist are the ones left in our closets.”  _ Choice words from a certain siren after her attack. Viktor winced at the memory. He had never come so close to Death. But in that memory, Death had loomed over him with velvet wings and a satchel of souls at her hips. Because Chihoko was furious or driven half-mad because of something Viktor had done? The mer didn’t know and how could he? For half of the time, Chihoko held every intention to kill him and the other half, she promised an eden, a paradise, that would scoop Viktor from the chains of being a mer.

With these odds, Viktor didn’t know which comment to trust before he fell back into the sea.

All of that happened a few days ago, more than enough time for him to mull over Chihoko’s words and her enticing promise. Viktor was to meet her at Hasetsu’s main pier on a full moon so that Chihoko could give Viktor what he needed to be human again. As much as it was hard to admit, this was the only solution for Viktor if he didn’t want to kill for his eden. Having been lost in his thoughts for the evening, Viktor eased back to reality when the moon’s rays shot through the gaps in the pier.

The time had come.

The edge of Hasetsu’s main pier was alive with ripples. Not a creature or appliance stirred when footsteps pitter pattered down the salty wood. A steady bounce to each of Chihoko’s step, carrying more weight than it ought while one by one, the lights from the nearby streets faded into the night. A flap of wings riddled the pier with velvet feathers as Chihoko walked through the darkness on her own red carpet. The swish of her Greek garment enthralled her wings, but they fell and swept behind her with a single command. Not a feather dropped after that, but Chihoko’s wings gathered her walkway of red until she saw her first glimpse of the water. Chihoko perched on the edge of the pier before sitting down. Her feet slipped into the frigid water and all felt calm.

She felt safe enough to slouch and fold her wings. Admiring the full moon like this was a rare treat because she was alone, but Chihoko sat up straighter when she heard a splash from somewhere in the water. A ripple accompanied her feet until two hands emerged from the depths and lifted her feet from the water’s edge. A swish of a mer’s tail tugged a grin over Chihoko’s lips before she whistled a little tune, a melody that one would hear if they cared to walk by the beach so early in the morning _.  _ As soon as the song began, the mer lifted his head from the water and whistled back in harmony.

The bed of velvet surrounding Chihoko lit up, _ feather by feather, _ and illuminated her features with a soft autumn fire. A few feathers fell into the water and brightened Viktor’s features, but the intention felt as cold and as empty as the siren before him. All of this felt like a facade, merely for show than genuine hospitality. Because if it wasn’t, Chihoko would’ve looked at him as an equal. But two feet of height separated them, and Chihoko was looking down with a tricker’s grin. Viktor’s body wasn’t his own at that moment because Chihoko pulled at his strings.

Viktor hesitated before he lowered his head and kissed Chihoko’s feet. His lips lingered on each one as driblets of water ran down from his bangs, his face, and plopped back into the sea.

The one eye that Chihoko could see, the only one that Viktor had left, submitted to the siren’s curious glance and to the cock of her head. Here at the pier, this was no longer Viktor’s domain. He was at the mercy of Chihoko when she crossed her arms and coaxed for him to come closer.

She  reeled him in, and one of her feathers touched the scar on Viktor’s face. The burn alerted him to how close he was to Chihoko _.  _ Indeed, Chihoko was close when she leaned down from the pier, her talons slowly tracing each scale and curve on Viktor’s face. Viktor growled underneath when a talon stroked under his chin, but Chihoko didn’t flinch. She continued her touches and teases, and Chihoko watched as Viktor’s obedience melted into something else.

“If Yuuri saw you right now, what would he say?”

Viktor’s head jerked. A growl reverberated in the back of his throat as Chihoko’s talons dug into his skin and scraped against his scales.

“It appears you’ve forgotten who you’re dealing with.” One of Chihoko’s hands migrated to a shoulder. Her wings lifted themselves off the pier and straightened out to encompass the entire shoreline, at least in Viktor’s eyes.

Chihoko’s talons tore into Viktor’s scales.

A delay from the mer when he saw his scales drifting in the air between them for the briefest of moments. Whatever humanity Viktor had left...snapped.

Viktor’s tail propelled him out of the water, and he seized Chihoko by the neck. His tail coiled around her legs. Chihoko attacked with her wings. Forced to let go of her neck, Viktor snatched and slammed Chihoko’s wings against the pier. Viktor lunged and his teeth nearly grazed Chihoko’s skin. Chihoko held Viktor back and slapped him.

The sting bled across Viktor’s cheek, and Chihoko grabbed Viktor’s hair and hoisted him up to her eye-level.

She could kill him. She could rip into his chest and crush Viktor’s beating heart between her fingers, but why would a she leave blood on her hands when Viktor could do it for her?

Chihoko’s wings were poised to strike if Viktor decided to attack again. Her feathers burned like embers, and Viktor panted from the heat. He tried to loosen Chihoko’s fingers in his hair, but the siren maintained her grip.

_ “We came here for a mutual agreement.” _ She narrowed her eyes. _ “Don’t you forget that.” _

Viktor’s voice failed him. That was the power of sirens: speaking was no longer an option as soon as a siren voiced a command. Viktor couldn’t move his body when Chihoko released him and her fingers curled around a teal marble. For the first time that night, Viktor was afraid and Chihoko took advantage of it.

After all, Viktor’s soul was in her hand. Chihoko could easily blow her breath over it and Viktor would’ve been forced to watch his soul leave this Earth as a dove. And as soon as Heaven accepted it, Viktor would be like all the other monsters lurking in the deep. But because Chihoko kept his soul for all these years, Viktor’s humanity hadn’t forsaken him.

“Not yet,” Chihoko mused as she tightened her hold around the marble. She had a few more moments before Viktor could move again. As she counted down the seconds, Chihoko whispered, “Be a good boy for me.”

Chihoko strolled around the mer, wondering if she should let Viktor dry out before kicking him back into the water. Or perhaps, she could tempt him a little longer. After all, she still held Viktor’s attention because she held his precious soul. If only humans were this easy to control. Chihoko paused in her pacing.

“Viktor, you want to be human, right?” Chihoko’s eyes glanced towards Viktor’s single one. “Nod.”

Viktor managed a tiny one.

“I’ve noticed you’ve become very close with a particular human. Oh, what was his name?” Chihoko snapped thrice before she shot an imaginary bullet into the back of Viktor’s head. Viktor closed his eyes when he felt Chihoko’s talon press into his skin.  _ “Katsuki Yuuri.” _

To utter Yuuri’s name was an insult. Chihoko watched as Viktor’s body shook and at the last second, she flew into the air just as Viktor’s fist landed where she had stood. Chihoko’s feathers fluttered down onto Viktor and scorched his skin, but Viktor refused to retreat to the water.

_ “Ag...Agreement.”  _ The word felt foreign over Viktor’s tongue, but he managed despite the dryness of his mouth. Like Chihoko said earlier, they were here for business.

“You know, I always thought that you mers couldn’t talk at all.” Her toes touched the water’s surface and ripples pulsated across it. “Speaking’s a bit too human, don’t you think?”

Viktor growled, but the vibrations ripped the inside of his throat and he swallowed his own blood. He was at his limit, so Chihoko kicked some water up onto the pier. It splashed across the wood, but Viktor didn’t dive into the water for the relief. He remained where he was, eyeing Chihoko coldly.

“Answer me this, Viktor.” Chihoko’s feathers created mist as they began to fall, heating the moisture in the air around her. “How far are you willing to go to be human?”

The hot steam comforted Viktor’s body, and it lulled his mind to a sense of peace. The warmth reminded him of Yuutopia Hot Springs--Yuuri’s childhood home--and of the night when he told Yuuri that he wanted to be human again. If being a monster was Viktor’s past, then being human with Yuuri was his future. To have, to hold, and to cherish the man that embraced Viktor for who he was, despite the differences, meant more to the mer than almost anything else in his a hundred and twenty years.

Chihoko snapped her fingers, and Viktor lifted his head from his thoughts. He couldn’t see clearly in the heated mist, but he could make out the  silhouette of Chihoko’s wings and their iridescent glow.

“Would you kill?” It was not a command, but it boomed as such. “Would you harm? Would you steal so that you could be human again?”

Chihoko tackled the very core of mer-instincts, and there was something so lovely about her voice that it made murder sound reasonable to Viktor’s ears.

“Would you do it for the price of this?” In the mist, Viktor saw his soul again, but it was different. It shone like a bright, teal light at the end of a metaphorical tunnel. Viktor gulped when Chihoko dropped the marble back into the little bag tied around her thigh. The mer held his breath when he suddenly felt Chihoko’s thumb caressing his bottom lip. It was not a matter of how or when did Chihoko come this close, but why. Because she had Viktor cornered with his deepest desires, and Viktor had nowhere to hide.

When Chihoko’s lips touched his own, Viktor witnessed a memory that wasn’t quite his own.

In the memory, there stood a red siren onboard a ship. As Viktor watched the memory progress, he the siren seduce a silver sailor into her arms and kiss him. Much like how Chihoko kissed Viktor now, and even the touch felt similar because Chihoko was that siren from way back when.

Just like in the memory, Chihoko reeled Viktor forward and back and curled her fingers, one by one, through his hair. The thrust of her hips against Viktor’s, and the mer tried to pull away. He tried to run, but every movement and every desire to flee melted with each of Chihoko’s soft touches when she enveloped her wings around them as a courtesy curtain to a world that didn’t deserve them.

Just like a hundred and twenty years ago, it felt as if Chihoko was forcing her soul, her entire being, through Viktor’s mouth so that he would only be filled by her. So that his thoughts and feelings would only be occupied by her but unlike the memory that felt so visceral before his eyes, Viktor broke from the kiss before Chihoko could kill him again.

The back of his head touched Chihoko’s wings, and they were soft and warm. Just like the kiss, though Viktor didn’t want to admit it when he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

There, splashed over her eyes, hidden beneath Chihoko’s raiment and heralded by the clink of a chain, apprehension wavered.

“Did the kiss mean anything to you?” Her voice fluttered, as if she had been waiting for this moment for the entirety of her afterlife.

Viktor stared at the sea when Chihoko pulled her wings away from him. “No.”

Chihoko brushed her hair behind her ears, glancing at one of her feet while the other hid behind her leg.

“Just like before, you didn’t let me in that easily.” She laughed her feelings away, and some small portion of Viktor felt sorry for Chihoko.

Sorry, because Viktor knew nothing about her and he never would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading part 1 of this mer!story. Part 2 will come out in a few weeks before New Year’s, and it’ll be much longer than this part. I wanted this chapter to establish Chihoko and Viktor’s relationship before putting the characters through an interesting trial later on. As always, you can find fanfic previews on my tumblr, @yuuris-piano, through the tag _#fanfic preview.  
>  _


	2. Incursion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _ Would you kill?  _ Chihoko’s voice slipped into Viktor’s mind. It was the same question she had asked him the night before.
> 
> _ Would you harm?  _ Viktor’s nails dug into his palm when he slipped the seaweed rope off from his shoulder. Viktor fashioned a noose and tightened the knot with his teeth.
> 
> _ Would you steal so that you could be human again?  _ There was only one thing reflected in Viktor’s eye when he gazed up again.
> 
> _ Yes, I would. _
> 
> * * *
> 
> **+** When _ a group of mer come together, they create storms. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reader discretion is advised. If the following topics disturb or make you uncomfortable, please refrain from reading this chapter.  _ Cannibalism, graphic violence, near/possible/confirmed character deaths, and physical agony. _
> 
> I want to thank my beta-readers,  [ imaginary_dragonling ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_dragonling) and  [ Suzuran_Cigue ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Suzuran_Cigue) , for taking their time during the holidays to help me edit this very long chapter. It means a lot to me, and I’m reassured that this chapter is at its best for the wide audience.
> 
> In terms of background information, you don’t have to read any extra ficlets to get the general idea as long chapter 1 has already been read. However, if you do want to get insight behind Viktor’s actions, I recommend reading these two ficlets:  [ Viktor ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12738711/chapters/29878353) and  [ soulmate ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12738711/chapters/29922369) .
> 
> [ Recommended Audio for Reading ](https://yuuris-piano.tumblr.com/private/168829901186/tumblr_ozxg703MZp1ws0cz0)

The water near Yamato Basin was as still as the crescent-knife above it.  _ Trouble  _ was perhaps a more fitting description when the Lady of Death descended from her perch. Chihoko’s feet dipped into the sea and ripples pulsated beneath her trailing steps.

Unlike at the main pier in Hasetsu, she found herself truly alone. Not a fish bothered her, nor did a pair of hands lift her feet before planting a kiss. Even so, the memory from the previous night at Hasetsu curved a fond smile over Chihoko’s lips. The tips of her wings glowed like crackling embers over a cold furnace when she hummed her song. No one came up to harmonize with her, and Chihoko brisked through her solo with every dance and rhythm at her disposal. There was only one figure woven before her eyes before she sang her song.

Viktor, the sight of the mer squirming under her fingertips when he was hoisted above the pier. Viktor, the pitiful struggles that only tightened the snare around his neck. Viktor, the delicious splash of desperation over his gaze. The unblemished fear flooded in Viktor’s lone eye when he couldn’t dart away. Mostly contributed by the fact that Chihoko had her taste of him years before, and Viktor refused to be the main course again.

Oh, Chihoko had her sweet taste before the night had ended, but her hunger clawed for something more. More than just a kiss from an unwilling mer, but a leash to have more than one under her control. Chihoko found a sweet spot in Yamato Bay, where the water was clear down to the underwater valleys beneath her steps. She plucked a feather from her wings, and it transformed into a wooden shaft with a strung net at the farthest end.

A handful of marbles from her soul-pouch plopped into the water, and Chihoko swirled them into her net. With every swish of her wrist, the marbles clinked and shone brighter with each collision. Every touch resonated louder underwater, increasing exponentially like gongs bashing into each other. Eventually, another’s ripples accompanied Chihoko’s own. A patch of scales surfaced briefly under the moonlight before it darted into the darker water. 

A hand tore through the seamless water. Chihoko drew her fishing net out of the way. For the briefest of a moment, the mer was so close to a soul, but its webbed claws barely scratched the surface of one.

The swish of its tail slapped the water’s edge, nearly drenching Chihoko before she flew into the air. Circling over the spot like a red tailed hawk, the siren shook her net. The beady, iridescent eyes lurking beneath the surface never tore its attention away from her. Every shake of the net brightened the marbles again until they shone brighter than the moon. Driven by hunger, the mer whipped through the water, following Chihoko as she sped towards the mainland.

The shrill of the mer’s desperate song attracted more. Several emerged from their coves and caves, lured by the telltale song. The chorus shook the sea until Yamato Basin was cursed with a pillering storm. When Chihoko turned her head, eyes ablazed at the sight of her army, she couldn’t imagine a more perfect sight. And yet, this sight swirled as a nightmare in another’s eye. 

  
  


Breaths hitched to the back of Viktor’s throat when a quiver of the telltale song ran down his scales like a trailing finger. Barely a sound crept from his lips, but his heart pounded for Yuuri to hear. In front of Viktor, Yuuri bore a quizzical look at the sudden silence that hovered between them. Just moments before, Viktor was squeaking about something cute that Makkachin had done earlier this morning. Now, the mer was looking up at Yuuri as if he was the last person Viktor wanted to see before the world fell at their feet.

Viktor leaned forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Yuuri. Yuuri said a few words, but Viktor couldn’t hear them. Not with eternal damnation just around the corner. Viktor couldn’t let this moment with Yuuri,  _ this paradise,  _ slip from him before the inevitable goodbye. If he did, Viktor couldn’t...

His worries were gently swept under a mental rug when Yuuri hummed a Christmas tune into his ear. It reminded Viktor of the songs he used to hear from the old sailors and shipmates that docked their vessels at Hasetsu’s ports. How the flair and ruckus of their songs used to lure Viktor up from the water, where he could rest his elbows on the dock. Watch as drinks, food, and laughter were shared over dingy lanterns. Viktor had always wanted to experience that same warmth and company.

Now that he was here, clutching Yuuri with all that he had, Viktor hoped that Yuuri would feel the same way. In those fragile moments, Yuuri’s heart heard the words that the mer didn’t say.

Yuuri’s humming stopped briefly when he found a more comfortable way to embrace Viktor back. He tugged his gloves off and rested one of his hands against the back of Viktor’s neck, keeping it warm when the morning breeze settled in.

“I love you, too.”

Yuuri said it so casually, but the weight behind his words stunned Viktor. When Viktor asked Yuuri to repeat what he had said, Yuuri squeezed him close and whispered the words into his ear. Viktor squirmed. His face colored with the softest tinge of red as Yuuri’s words calmed his thumping heart. Viktor heard the softness of Yuuri’s breaths and how steady they were against his own. The mist from their lips melded into a swirling dance before fading above them like smoke.

At the edge of the beach, where Yuuri crouched in the sand and where Viktor crossed the fine zipper between him and the sea, they embraced like this in mutual silence. Yuuri comforted Viktor with slow circles along the back. His sweet whispers occasionally perked Viktor’s ears, and the mer purred against Yuuri’s shoulder in response.

Viktor poked Yuuri with his nose, nudging him to stay a little longer. Yuuri shook his head and reminded Viktor that he had to go now. However, Yuuri peppered his goodbye with sweet kisses to keep Viktor’s pout at bay.

_ “I.” _ A kiss to the forehead.  _ “Love.” _ Viktor splashed his tail when Yuuri kissed his cheek.  _ “You.”  _ Yuuri lips hovered over Viktor’s own before he crossed the space between them. The touch loosened Viktor’s arms, and Yuuri managed to wiggle free without a complaint. “I have to go to work now.” Yuuri waited for Viktor to nod before he spoke again. “I’ll be back in the afternoon. Promise.”

Viktor extended his pinkie, and Yuuri curved it with his own. They shook on the agreement, but Viktor was reluctant to let go. He chirped and tried to follow Yuuri up the beach, but his body flinched when it slid over the sand. Already intoxicated by the telltale song of his kind, Viktor’s instincts told him to snatch Yuuri back. To drag Yuuri down and crush his throat so that a soul would emerge from between his lips, but Viktor’s heart deafened the desire.

Viktor had promised that he would protect Yuuri, so the thought of ever hurting Yuuri broke the mer from his instincts. Viktor was in control of his body and actions now, but his scales protruded upward like goosebumps. A pod of mers were closing in on Hasetsu Bay, bringing with them a storm.

 

_ Protect. _

 

It was the only word that mattered to Viktor when he dove back into the water. A quick burst of speed propelled him out from Hasetu Bay, but it wasn’t enough to take him to the heart of the storm.

Viktor had at least sixteen more kilometers, but he didn’t have the stamina to make it that far. Viktor poked his head up from the water, scanning for a boat or a ship that could take him farther out to sea. He surveyed for as far as he could see, but no one would be out in this weather unless they had unsettled business.

Frowning, Viktor slipped back into the water. He eased his body and slowly sunk towards the seafloor, where he curled his fingers around a fistful of sand. As the grains floated out from his grasp, Viktor’s eye followed the trail. He was deep enough where the waves couldn’t interfere with his observations. And judging by how the sand moved, there had to be a current nearby. Viktor swept the seafloor with his tail, and a cloud of sand drifted in a peculiar line. Viktor followed and kept sweeping until even his hair was pointed to where the current was.

He hitched a ride and swam through it, reaching the heart of a perpetual storm within about an hour and a half. When he reached his destination, Viktor broke out from the current and floated aimlessly through the water. Conserving the strength he had left, Viktor eyed the obstacle before him.

It was a swirling wall, almost like a whirlpool because a storm was generating it from above. Viktor was at least three yards away from it, but his tail burned when it kept him away from it. Quite the opposite of what Viktor wanted, but he had to prepare himself.

Once on the other side, Viktor would be in enemy territory with incursion on his mind. Focus wasn’t just an idea, but his tool to survival when Viktor relaxed his tail. His body was sucked into the whirlpool, where he spun around like a rag doll. Viktor clawed at the rapid currents, inching forward as his tail pushed him. With a final thrust, he escaped into the heart of the storm.

Confusion glossed over Viktor’s eye when he tried to orient himself. Dozens of darting bodies surrounded him, fading from black to white from how fast they moved. Viktor couldn’t follow them with his gaze so instead, he swung his tail out and hissed. Viktor exposed his jagged fangs, and his snarls struck like cold knives when his vision began to steady.

The younger mers backed off, finally noticing the scars splattered across Viktor’s chest from being at the mercy of the sea. When the inner-currents brushed his bangs and exposed his gouged left eye, more than enough mers gave Viktor his distance before he snapped his jaws at them. The remnants of faded blood and the scars down his face gave Viktor the image of a warrior, but three of his peers continued to linger.

Viktor was a rare face for a social gathering like this, so why should he get special treatment just because he snarled and boasted his strength. If he could prove it, that was a different matter. The tiger-striped mer to Viktor’s left struck first, leaving  her mark on Viktor’s collection of scars. Clutching his side, Viktor lashed back. The end of his tail collided with her jaw.

Another mer struck with their tail, and Viktor crossed with his as as if this was a duel between swords. The meatier portion of Viktor’s tail doubled as a shield against another’s blade. Viktor switched between offense and defense seamlessly until claws became the prominent weapon of choice. When his opponents appeared and disappeared in front of his face, Viktor bore the brunt of the attacks with his forearms.

Viktor’s scales protruded outwards like spikes, scraping against foreign flesh in the skirmish. When the the attacks didn’t cease, Viktor coiled his tail like a whip and lashed out again. Bruised and bleeding, his peers retreated to the surface, and Viktor was left behind to survey his injuries. The cuts and discolorations were hidden behind his hands when he darted away from the edge of the whirlpool..

He barely made it to the middle of the storm without an incident until a wayward mer collided against Viktor’s ribs. To hiss would be a costly mistake on his part when he met the skeleton’s hollow gaze. How her eyes blinked at the back of sunken tunnels, where the light never touched them.

Her cheekbones jutted out like ledges off of a rockface, and her complexion was sallow. Her wispy hair flew off in chunks when a spotted mer darted by. As soon as the other’s scales flashed in front of her, the skeletal mer struck out and clawed chunks off from his tail.

Blood clouded the water. The skeletal mer wrapped her body around her prey. Pinning the spotted mer’s hands from gouging out her eyes. Her face disappeared into his shoulder. Bits of flesh drifted in the currents until she had her fill. Her prey  sunk into his watery grave, his neck snapped at a perfect right angle. A few mers followed the spotted mer down into the darkness to clean off his bones before he was lost.

Forever.

The skeletal mer wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, teeth stained with carnage. She flashed Viktor a grin when she noticed that he was staring at her. Viktor averted his gaze. The individual in front of him was no longer human nor alive, but a monster with forsaken humanity. Driven by the sins of the flesh when the mer licked her fangs. Her gaze wandered down to Viktor’s tail.

Viktor hid it behind him and hissed. The skeletal mer didn’t heed his warning.

She lunged, crushing Viktor’s throat between her hands. Digging his claws between her fingers, Viktor struck with his tail and shattered the mer’s ribs. She let Viktor go. The fight frenzied the water, and mers circled Viktor and his opponent.

The skeletal mer tore her hand through the space between her and Viktor. Viktor almost lost his eye, but he dodged and grabbed his opponent’s arm. His fangs disappeared into her flesh and with a jerk, he wrenched. The limb ripped off like an accessory. Blood clouded the space between them, so the skeletal mer couldn’t dodge from Viktor’s tail.

The forced knocked her mangled body out from the circle, where she was quickly tackled and consumed. Consumed by the younger mers, who wouldn’t stand a chance against her otherwise.

Viktor swam away, massaging his throat. Trying to breathe while remnants of the skeletal mer floated in every which way until brittle bones were all that remained. Even then, the larger mers snatched and crushed the bones between their teeth. Nothing was left of her, and no one acknowledged that she was gone.

Viktor knew that he barely escaped with victory between his teeth, but was the cost worth it? Bruised and battered from all sides, Viktor didn’t know if he was going to survive. He could barely speak, let alone breathe. His breaths were as short as they came. Viktor barely kept  himself from sinking when he struggled to swim up to the surface.

All the others mers were surfacing and for what? Viktor didn’t need to be a genius when he recognized a patch of red floating in the sky.

He blinked slowly.  _ “Chi…?”  _

Someone behind him whistled. Viktor turned his head.

He almost attacked. Though the individual looked like Chihoko, they weren’t. Not by a longshot because the siren was in the air, glowing like a false beacon of hope. And yet, her other half was in the water, treading alongside Viktor with chirps and purrs.

When Chi wrapped a tentative arm around Viktor’s own, Viktor felt that he was going to be okay. From these first few interactions, Chi had already distanced herself from her siren counterpart as the calmer of the two. If it was possible, Viktor would’ve squeaked his pleasure in meeting a sensibile mer for the first time today. However, all the chit chat around him died just as Chihoko descended from her heavenly perch.

Heads turned and eyes followed, hunger clawing at almost each and every throat because Chihoko was a delectable soul if one could hold her without a snapped neck in exchange. However, the siren didn’t assemble her crowd merely so that they could simply ogle at her. No, Chihoko’s neck twisted like a hawk’s, eyes flaring up as she scanned for Viktor’s face. And then there, closer to the outer edge of the group, Chihoko found him. Next to him was...

Chi dragged Viktor and herself below the water’s surface. Viktor didn’t argue, having looked up and witnessed a demon’s smile. The sight, alone, gave Viktor strength as he weaved past wayward tails while following Chi to the middle of the group. But even so, the earlier inflictions over his body drained him.

Encouraging Viktor with squeaks, Chi slowed down and held Viktor firmly by the hand. Her fingers curved around Viktor’s securely, and she pulled Viktor closer to herself. With a final thrust of her tail, she and Viktor swirled slowly in the water until they reached the middle. Careful to make sure that Chihoko couldn’t see them.

Up close like this, Viktor’s tail brushed against Chi’s. She was an old mer. Skin not as sallow as the skeletal mer’s, but her bones stuck out like jagged jigsaw pieces connected to a fleshy, muscle-bound tail. And yet, though her body was similar to the other mers, her eyes fascinated Viktor. There was a human-quality and luster brimmed behind the maroonish red in her eyes. Viktor caught his reflection in them.

When the currents swept by and brushed Viktor’s bangs back, Chi’s eyes flashed in response of the horror of what Chihoko had done to Viktor. When Chi spoke, she didn’t have the same harshness to her words like Viktor and the other mers. Her voice was mellow, thick with a throaty accent from years of practice and study below a busy pier. 

_ “Leave.” _ Her voice never rose above a whisper when she rubbed her thumb across Viktor’s scars.  _ “You’ll be eaten alive.” _

The all too-vivid memory of a mer being picked to the bone flashed in Viktor’s mind. It lingered, lingered until Viktor was able to suppress it. He had to close his eye, wade through the turbulent memories of why he never associated himself with any of the other mers. But eventually, Viktor found his rest when his memories drifted to those that contained Yuuri.

Yuuri’s laughter, how it reminded Viktor of the gulls he used to watch when he was younger. The slight adjustments with his glasses, how Yuuri’s stoic determination often took Viktor’s breath away during those moments. The trailing footprints left on Hasetsu Beach when Yuuri ran after an energetic Vicchan, how the sight prompted Viktor to ask Yuuri a simple question.

_ “I’ll be here to walk by your side,”  _ Yuuri had replied, sealing the answer with a slow kiss. The memory of that day ignited a flame in Viktor’s chest when he opened his eye and met Chi’s gaze.

He remembered why he was here. To protect: to protect the home that he had grown to love, to protect the memories that he made at Hasetsu Beach, and to protect the man that helped his heart beat again in this afterlife.

Viktor argued that he couldn’t turn away. He couldn’t just leave, and Chi called him crazy. She swished her tail, nudging Viktor to escape while the storm was still young.

“You can protect without being here.”

_ “I need to get something,”  _ Viktor whispered back. His voice warped by his damaged throat. Viktor grimaced but found his strength through Chi’s disbelief. When he spoke again, one of his fingers pointed upwards.  _ “Chi has it.” _

“Chihoko asks for bloodshed before she offers a helping hand,” Chi warned. “Don’t fall to her demands.” Chi hissed between her teeth when Viktor left her. She couldn’t leave her safe haven, but her voice traveled and resonated in the crook behind Viktor’s ear.  _ “You’re not a monster!” _

Viktor winced when he broke through the water’s surface.

_ Who said I had to be? _

Viktor moved when Chihoko led her army towards a nearby, sea-slapped island just north of the rumbling storm. The jagged pinnacles and cliff edges morphed the island into a nightmare when above all the turbulent screeches from the mers, there stood three highschool boys or three pieces of bait, shivering in their uniforms as they held onto each other. Trembling from head to toe, unable to look over the edge of where their nightmare began.

When one of them took a step towards the edge of the godforsaken cliff, the ground crumbled beneath his foot and broke into the water. The frenzy below intensified. Much like in a koi pond before a child threw a fortune cookie into the depths, so too did Chihoko corner the boys until they were backed into the horrors of her little game.

A few of the younger mers bounced over their neighbors and leapt into the air. Tried to snatch a leg or the loose fabric of a pant-leg before plummeting down. Most were impaled by the sharpened pinnacles at the base of the cliff and were eaten immediately by the surrounding mers. Flesh ripped to the bone until even the blood was wiped up and fed to the sea from the crashing waves. Screeches muffled the air.

Meanwhile, the more experienced mers swam down to the seafloor and gathered seaweed. Twisting strands together to fashion a rope, the mers surfaced and casted their creations up the cliffside. The ropes slapped and crumbled the earth, nearly grappling around ankles to send a boy down. But in all perseverance, the teens stuck together and remained untouched.

“Don’t you humans know when to give up?” Chihoko folded her wings so that she could approach the boys. She reached out a hand out of the goodness of her heart. But one of the teens slapped Chihoko’s hand away. Even though he was the shortest by far, he stood between his friends and the Devil, herself.

Thunder amplified his courage. “There’s nothing to fear when a hero will be here!” His knees hook when Chihoko laughed.

“By conventional means, a squad of officers have little effect on me,  _ Minami Kenjirou.”  _ The name rolled off from Chihoko’s tongue with unsettling ease. Her wings folded out for flight. Ready to knock the boys into the raging sea, but Minami unveiled something from inside his coat and the siren screeched.

The cry stole Viktor’s attention, his eye watched as Chihoko swooped into the air. A good ten yards away from the crumbling cliff. Arms crossed, and not in smug satisfaction but to keep her fear from spilling. A crack had finally appeared along her composure, and it splintered the rest of her body.

What did Minami have? Viktor wanted to know, but he couldn’t come close. The boys were already aware that mers were dangerous, so why would they trust him? Unless, Viktor struck a deal.

The boys needed freedom, and Viktor could provide that. He needed to get close to Chihoko, and the boys could offer that _. _ But, he needed to play this smart. If Chihoko caught wind of what he wanted to do, he’d never see his soul again.

And if Viktor grounded himself closer to reality, he couldn’t alert the teenagers of what he wanted to do either. Not with Chihoko hovering too close for comfort, even though she maintained a hearty distance between her and the boys. All Viktor could do was hope that the teens would trust him. All Viktor could do was believe that his body could handle the burden ahead of him.

Viktor propped himself against a jagged spike. He winced, his body tightened when he flexed. Viktor’s eye scanned up the obstacle ahead of him. A leap up to the cliff’s edge could well destroy him, not taking account of what would happen if he slammed into the cliffside, fell, or was speared through the heart by, an already, bloodied pinnacle.

Viktor breathed softly and steadily, just enough for his throat to handle. He had already made up his mind and accepted his fate. He stole a mer’s seaweed rope and started his climb. Finding his first hold was the hardest, but every hold afterwards came like a blessing against the storm. Viktor tried his best not to flinch when seaweed ropes struck him.

Lashes buried into his back and tail, ripping Viktor’s breath away. Tears welled in his eye, but they were washed off by the crashing waves. Holding onto crevices and protruding rocks for dear life, Viktor eventually found his breath again. The lashes on his back stung, paralyzing Viktor from his goal. But after a moment, he gritted his teeth and continued his climb.

The webbed skin between his fingers gave him decent upper-body grip, and his tail coiled around previous protruding rocks. The seaweed rope he stole was wrapped around his shoulder. When he was close enough to the cliff’s edge, Viktor lifted his gaze and watched as Chihoko circled around the cliff. His eye followed her, trained to Chihoko’s ankle, but Viktor grew dizzy when the siren increased her speed. The fear that had grasped her melted when her eyes locked on Viktor, and there was nowhere for the mer to hide.

_ Would you kill?  _ Chihoko’s voice slipped into Viktor’s mind. It was the same question she had asked him the night before.

_ Would you harm?  _ Viktor’s nails dug into his palm when he slipped the seaweed rope off from his shoulder. Viktor fashioned a noose and tightened the knot with his teeth.

_ Would you steal so that you could be human again?  _ There was only one thing reflected in Viktor’s eye when he gazed up again.

_ Yes, I would. _

Chihoko darted before Viktor’s rope touched her. Viktor reeled it back. His eye trained on Chihoko’s movements before he threw his line again.

“I’m not your target!” Soaring far beyond Viktor’s reach, Chihoko pointed the tip of her wing towards Minami and his friends. Lightning flashed behind her.  _ “They are.” _

Minami’s knuckles turned white when Viktor snapped his attention towards him and his friends. Frozen under Chihoko’s command, Viktor grip on the cliffside loosened. His seaweed rope slipped back into the depths. Then so did he and he followed, watching the world blur into a halt before a seaweed rope latched itself around his tail. A single tug lurched Viktor into the icy water to safety.

Just as Viktor submerged, Chi broke out from the water’s surface and scrambled up the cliffside. As if her body was born to climb and had done so for thousands of times. Chi’s hands weren’t clumsy, and her tail acted as a pair of legs when it shot past crevices and up slick ledges.

Viktor heard voices up the cliff. They may’ve been from Chi and from the teenagers when they were close enough to speak, but Viktor couldn’t hear the conversation.

After a while, Viktor’s body moved on its own to fulfill Chihoko’s command, and he climbed up the cliffside. Unable to grit his teeth as the storm pelted rain down his bleeding back. Like bullets burrowing under his skin, and Viktor could barely catch his breath. Even when his ribs splintered and pierced his sides from his torso’s overuse, Viktor continued to climb.

The pouring rain drenched his body, keeping him barely alive but making the cliffside slippery with every touch. A few yards above him, Chi lashed her seaweed rope. Chihoko dodged every whip with ease, eyes narrowed at her counterpart’s plan.

Eventually, the seaweed rope slipped out from Chi’s fingers and got caught around Viktor’s neck, almost knocking him off the cliffside. Viktor’s muscles burned where he clung for dear life, and his eye could barely make-out Chihoko’s figure when she attacked Chi.

A searing, bloody slash erupted down the mer’s backside before Chi slipped and fell into the sea. Her body slid past Viktor’s own, and Viktor wanted to look down. Wanted to see what would become of her, but his head and neck refused to turn, rigid under Chihoko’s command. All Viktor could do was imagine that Chi made it to the water, safe and sound. Despite his reluctance in thinking so when the screeches below him intensified.

Viktor peeled Chi’s seaweed rope off from his neck and made another noose. Clenching it between his teeth, Viktor climbed until his fingers could almost brush against an ankle. Viktor slipped his body over the unstable cliff edge. His heart beated a mile a minute when he collapsed into a shallow puddle.

Minami and his friends jumped back. A frying pan appeared in Minami’s hands, ready to strike if Viktor came any closer. His voice trembled as much as his knees when Viktor pushed himself up. Water cascaded off from his back and spilled through his hair. Viktor’s fingers twitched towards Chi’s seaweed rope, and he held it in his fist.

_ “Yes, Viktor. Do it.” _ Chihoko’s voice sounded louder than the thunder, even though it was a whisper when she descended behind Viktor.  _ “Ravage to your heart’s desire.”  _ Viktor’s breath was hitched to the back of his throat when Chihoko pressed her back against his own. Her wings individually shifted to their perspective sides, stretched out in all their glory. The warmth colored Viktor’s scales.

Viktor remembered this moment when he was human. He remembered this warmth against his back when Chihoko promised him eternal life if he followed her. As grown as he was, he believed in her. The promise was sealed with a heated passion, and that was when Viktor found himself falling. Not only from the life he could’ve lived, but from the ship he was on. The last thing he saw was Chihoko before his body crashed into the water. 

And then, a marble slipped from between his lips.

And now, Viktor’s body felt at ease. His fingers loosened slightly around Chi’s seaweed rope. For the first time in a while, he was able to breathe on his own. He felt the puddle underneath his tail, and the end of his tail splashed in it. Viktor tasted the salty air, and how it coated to the roof of his mouth. His head tipped back, a sigh escaped from his lips.

Viktor managed to slouch his back against Chihoko’s wings, and she took it as a sign of compliance. A strange yet happy smile curved over her lips. Her wings glowed faintly to comfort Viktor when he closed his eye.

 

_ “I always knew you’d be a monster.”  _

 

Viktor hummed a little Christmas tune, barely glancing back to admire Chihoko’s neck. How her hair was carefully combed to the right so that Viktor could see the back of it, and Viktor narrowed his eye.

“You talk too much.”

_ “What--?” _ Chihoko’s words died on her tongue.

Viktor tightened his noose around her neck. A slap and a mouthful of feathers didn’t shake Viktor off when he latched onto Chihoko like a leech. Flames erupted over her feathers, but Viktor was protected by the rain. Steam shrouded him and Chihoko, and Viktor covered the siren’s eyes with one one of his hands.

Chihoko was absolutely still, unable to flinch when Viktor held her in his arms. Unable to puff her feathers out when Viktor rested his chin on the crook of her shoulder, enticing Chihoko with his touch like how the siren had enticed him with her lips and sweet words. She was almost unable to fight. Almost, because Viktor had a skillful grasp at the base of her neck.

His fingers were pinched around the siren’s windpipe, just below where Viktor knotted his noose. He was careful, keeping it loose enough so that Chihoko could still breathe. After the seaweed strands slipped from between his teeth, Viktor lowered his hand from Chihoko’s eyes and released her.

She looked back at him and yanked at her collar. Eyebrow raised, curious to the little game Viktor wanted to play. Viktor stared at her quite plainly. None of his intentions surfaced in his eye, but he held onto his end of the seaweed rope. Looping the end around his palm for a sturdy hold, Viktor gestured towards the open sea with a welcoming hand. Chihoko could leave.

But no, it couldn’t be as simple as that. Viktor was toying with her, vaguely disguising his disgust towards her earlier compliance.  _ Yes, that has to be it. _ Chihoko lifted her wings. Viktor’s blank stare couldn’t fool her, but she was two steps ahead of the mer’s little game. If Viktor had wanted a fight from the beginning, he should’ve said so. Spreading her wings, Chihoko soared into the air. Viktor watched as the coil of seaweed rope by his tail quickly dwindled until there was almost a perfect line between him and Chihoko. Before Viktor’s hand was pulled upwards, he yanked his line back.

His noose choked the siren, and Viktor reeled Chihoko back to the cliff’s edge. All the while, his eye narrowed in on the soul-pouch tied to her hip. When Chihoko was close enough, Viktor reached for pouch. He asked her simple questions. Was she comfortable? Could she still breathe? When Chihoko nodded to both, Viktor proceeded with his plan. He secured Chihoko’s soul-pouch around his arm and slipped the noose off from the siren’s neck.

Chihoko stumbled. For the first time in her afterlife, her body didn’t agree with her. She collapsed onto her knees. Water from the surrounding puddles splashed up to her wings. When Chihoko turned her head, she met the eye of a monster. No, she met Viktor and the mer reached out his hand to help her stand again. Chihoko’s fingers curled around the hem of her Greek garment. She extended three fingers for Viktor to hold onto if he was close enough. At the same time, Chihoko raised one of her wings and slammed it against the cliff’s edge. The earth crumbled beneath her.

Just as the edge shattered, Minami and his friends pulled Viktor to the safety of sturdier ground before he fell too. Even in his fatigue, the boys struggled to hold Viktor when tried to wrestled out from their arms. He lunged forward, his fingers met Chihoko’s. But she slipped from his grasp and disappeared into the waters below. Viktor couldn’t see her fate because Minami and his friends pulled the mer back, and Viktor rested quietly in their arms.

_ Numb  _ was the best word to describe how he felt.

Yes, he did it. He got Chihoko’s soul-pouch and his soul back, but was it worth it? Was this the victory he wanted to taste? The thoughts festered in Viktor’s mind when his body finally succumbed to fatigue.

Viktor slipped in and out of consciousness when Minami and his companions carried him through the barren island, seeking shelter from the frigid storm. Someone splashed rainwater against Viktor’s gills to keep him alive. Viktor would've voiced his thanks, but he could barely speak. His bangs covered his eye, so he couldn’t see where they were going. However, Viktor perked his head up when he heard some echos. Raindrops were echoing from somewhere, so Viktor nudged the teens to follow the sound.

The echoes led them to a cave near the southside of the island. Inside, the boys peeled off their coats and squeezed the water out of them. Viktor was placed on the ground, propped his back against a rock so that he could breathe easier. His eye barely scanned the inside of the cave before he noticed a series of deep pools.

Viktor grunted at first, but the pouring rain drowned out the sound of his voice. There were a few, small rocks near his tail. Viktor flicked them into his hands, and he tossed them low to grab the teens’ attention. A few rocks skidded across the cave floor, but they didn’t meet their targets. Some rocks disappeared into the darkness. And then, there was one rock that barely moved after Viktor threw them. His grip would loosen at the last moment, and the fragment fell with a thud next to his hip. Somehow, that was one that grabbed the teens’ attention.

They blinked at Viktor, and Viktor slowly blinked back at them. He raised his arm and pointed towards the pool. Minami and his friends picked Viktor up again and moved the mer as gently as they could. When he was close enough to one of the pools, Viktor slipped in.

He rested his head back against the cave’s floor and closed his eye. In the calm, Viktor’s mind wandered back to Chihoko.  _ She’s okay.  _ A fall couldn’t take the siren out that easily. A pod of mers weren’t the doorbell to Death’s door because Chihoko believed that she was Death. And if her resilience was anything but, Viktor imagined that Chi was okay too. Though she and Chihoko were different, the two were originally part of a whole. A strong, sturdy whole that gave them courage, strength, and their own peculiar ways in handling their weaknesses.

Viktor opened his eye and glanced down at the soul-pouch around his forearm. He blinked slowly. Just as Chihoko and Chi had met each other this morning, Viktor plunged his hand into the soul-pouch to meet his other half. Viktor’s eye glowed momentarily in the darkness when he found it.

“Thank you.”

Viktor looked up and met Minami’s eyes when the teen approached him.

“For saving us.” Minami’s friends bowed their heads with him, murmuring their sincere thanks as well. Viktor looked at them and shook his head slowly. They didn’t have to thank him. But with every shake to Viktor’s head, the mer saw another smile brighten the darkness of the cave because the boys were sincere in their gratitude. Viktor gestured for one of them to come closer to him, and Minami was the first to step forward.

Through Minami, Viktor discovered Chihoko’s first weakness. The item that had killed her when she was human.  _ And I’m the second one,  _ Viktor thought when he took Chihoko’s soul-pouch off from his forearm. He gently pushed it into Minami’s hands.

_ “Keep it safe.” _

Minami gave Viktor his word.

With that done, Viktor closed his eye and his mind wandered to memories of Hasetsu Beach. He would’ve fallen into exhaustion if he didn’t hear a yelp from one of the teens. A finger was pointed at the water near Viktor, and the mer watched as a golden ring circled him, large enough to accommodate his traveling partners. It was a portal and if Viktor squinted hard enough, he saw the sands of Hasetsu Beach.

Viktor coaxed the boys into entering through the portal with him. An air of unease lingered in the cave before Minami stepped into the pool first. He screeched at how cold the water was, but he ventured onwards and waded into the portal. Minami’s companions followed and bore their complaints silently, wondering what was going to happen next.

Viktor had never gone through a portal with humans before, but the portal probably worked the same for them as well. Viktor plunged his head below the water, and the boys, in hesitation, copied him.

Instead of a mouthful of water, they encountered a mouthful of air when they appeared in the shallows next to Hasetsu Beach. Drenched from the waist down, the boys ran up the beach and clung to each other for support. Tears spilled between the three of them, happy to have survived see familiar land again. Viktor watched them as he slipped out from the golden ring, and it disappeared right after.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Viktor managed a slow nod, barely able to keep a straight face because of the the wreckage he felt inside and out. The facade began to crack when Minami’s friends were the first to say their goodbyes.

They reached out their hands to shake Viktor’s. The gesture felt foreign even though Viktor had experienced this numerous times before. But during those instances, the person he shook hands with promised to meet him again. Right now, with Minami’s friends waiting for Viktor to respond, the mer wasn’t sure if his hands could reach out.

“One day, we’ll meet again.” Minami broke the silence and extended his hand out for Viktor to shake as well. “Promise.”

It was so easy to break a promise, but the determination behind Minami’s eyes gave Viktor strength. He reached out and individually shook the teens’ hands. His fingers trailed across their palms when he had to let go.

Viktor watched the boys climb up the beach and to the boardwalk before they disappeared back into civilization. He recited Minami’s promise a few times in his mind. Perhaps it was out of reassurance because Viktor’s eye didn’t leave the boardwalk until he felt comfortable with doing so.

The mer crawled out from the shallows and slid his body up the beach. His arms shook so much that he collapsed into the sand. For a while, he laid like that and moved his limbs up and down to make a sand-angel. Even when his body screamed at him for all of this morning’s strain, at least his mind and body could agree to one thing.

Viktor was home.

He flipped onto his back and raised his marble up into the air. The gold and pink colors shone brightly against the gray sky. A tinge of dark blue striped the middle, reminding Viktor of Yuuri’s eyes before he kissed his marble. From there, he slipped it over his tongue, and it disappeared to the back of his throat.

Viktor felt the marble nestle itself into an empty crevice near his heart. From there, a burn engulfed the inside of Viktor’s chest when his heart and soul were finally reunited. Blurs of memories flashed over Viktor’s eye before they melded into the memories sewn to his flesh.

There, the joy ended.

Viktor’s body contorted. His damaged ribs cracked and extended outwards, threatening to pierce through his skin. The pain was worse at his throat. It burned and cracked on the inside. Blood dribbled past Viktor’s lips as he writhed across the sand. His screams drowned the silence.

Viktor’s tail thrashed in the frigid waters before the limb ripped down the middle and molded into legs. The scales melted into Viktor’s body as skin stretched over his muscles and bones. Toes replaced where the base of his tail used to be, and the joints snapped into place. Viktor’s thighs were the last to come back, and the leftover flesh and skin created a throbbing mess that laid bare at December’s mercy.

Viktor arched his back, breathing as steadily as he could though the pain, when his scales on his back and up his shoulders were absorbed into his skin. His gills were sealed and for the first time in decades, his chest expanded to fill his lungs with air. The cold sliced through his throat, and Viktor laid on the beach, shivering.

 

Sometime during the pain, it had begun to snow. Swirling flakes littered his hair and kissed his nose and cheeks, like the touch of a lover. He longed to reach out and balance one over the tip of his finger, but he felt glad. Glad in merely watching because his body’s energy was well spent. Seeing this falling snow stirred up a memory for Viktor, one from his human youth.

In the back of his mind, he heard the crackle of a fire and felt the warmth of his mother’s touch against his cheek.

_ “Vítenʹka, welcome home.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this and the daily updates for Mer!Ficlet will resume either later today  _ [depending on when I post this] _ or tomorrow.
> 
> \---
> 
> When I finished writing this chapter, I looked back at all the precious ficlets I’ve done. Seeing how the story has shaped itself to now, I got to see how beautiful this story mer!series has grown to be.


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